The Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal has sentenced Senator Peter Nwaoboshi to seven years’ imprisonment for money laundering.
Nwaoboshi, who is the senator representing Delta North Senatorial District at the National Assembly, was convicted by the court on Friday.
Nigeria’s anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, in 2018, arraigned Nwaoboshi and his two firms, Golden Touch Construction Project Ltd and Suiming Electrical Ltd.
In the two-count charge marked FHC/L/117C/18, the EFCC alleged that the defendants laundered N322 million between May and June 2014.
But, in a judgment delivered in June 2021, Chukwujekwu Aneke held that the agency failed to prove the elements of the offences for which it charged the senator.
In his judgment, Justice Aneke held that the prosecution failed to call vital witnesses and tender concrete evidence to prove the elements of the offences for which it charged the defendants.
Aneke also discharged the companies on the same grounds.
However, the anti-graft agency filed an appeal and in its ruling on the EFCC’s appeal on Friday, the Court of Appeal held that the trial judge erred in dismissing the charges against the respondents.
According to a statement by the EFCC, the court of appeal held that the trial judge erred in dismissing the charges against the respondents.
“It said the prosecution had proved the ingredients of the offence and consequently found the defendants guilty as charged,” the statement reads.
The court ordered that his two companies, Golden Touch Construction Project Ltd and Suiming Electrical Ltd, be wound up in line with the provisions of Section 22 of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2021.
